The Ancient Greek word δαίμωνdaimōn denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latingenius or numen. Daimōn most likely came from the Greek verb daiesthai (to divide, distribute).[3] The Greek conception of a daimōn notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. To distinguish the classical Greek concept from its later Christian interpretation, the former is anglicized as either daemon or daimon rather than demon.[citation needed] The original Greek word daimon does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koineδαιμόνιον (daimonion),[4] and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root.

The Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. In fact, εὐδαιμονίαeudaimonia, (literally good-spiritedness) means happiness. By the early Roman Empire, cult statues were seen, by pagans and their Christian neighbors alike, as inhabited by the numinous presence of the gods: "Like pagans, Christians still sensed and saw the gods and their power, and as something, they had to assume, lay behind it, by an easy traditional shift of opinion they turned these pagan daimones into malevolent 'demons', the troupe of Satan..... Far into the Byzantine period Christians eyed their cities' old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons' presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested."[5] The term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament. The Western medieval and neo-medieval conception of a demon[6] derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity. The Hellenistic "daemon" eventually came to include many Semitic and Near Eastern gods as evaluated by Christianity.[citation needed]

The supposed existence of demons remains an important concept in many modern religions and occultist traditions. Demons are still feared largely due to their alleged power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition (perhaps epitomized by the work of Aleister Crowley), a demon (such as Choronzon, which is Crowley's interpretation of the so-called 'Demon of the Abyss') is a useful metaphor for certain inner psychological processes (inner demons), though some may also regard it as an objectively real phenomenon. Some scholars[7] believe that large portions of the demonology (see Asmodai) of Judaism, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and were transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.

Ancient Near East

Mesopotamia

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, "In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, storm-demons, represented in ox-like form."[8] They were represented as winged bulls, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective jinn of royal palaces.[9]

From Chaldea, the term shedu traveled to the Israelites. The writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dialogism to Canaanite deities.

There are indications that demons in popular Hebrew mythology were believed to come from the nether world.[10] Various diseases and ailments were ascribed to them, particularly those affecting the brain and those of internal nature. Examples include catalepsy, headache, epilepsy and nightmares. There also existed a demon of blindness, "Shabriri" (lit. "dazzling glare") who rested on uncovered water at night and blinded those who drank from it.[11]

Demons supposedly entered the body and caused the disease while overwhelming or "seizing" the victim. To cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which the Essenes excelled[citation needed]. Josephus, who spoke of demons as "spirits of the wicked which enter into men that are alive and kill them", but which could be driven out by a certain root,[12] witnessed such a performance in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian[13] and ascribed its origin to King Solomon. In mythology, there were few defences against Babylonian demons. The mythical mace Sharur had the power to slay demons such as Asag, a legendary gallu or edimmu of hideous strength.

Judaism

As referring to the existence or non-existence of shedim (Hebr. for "demons", "spirits") there are converse opinions in Judaism.[8] There are "practically nil" roles assigned to demons in the Jewish Bible.[14] In Judaism today, beliefs in shedim ("demons" or "evil spirits") are either midot hasidut (Hebr. for "customs of the pious"), and therefore not halachah, or notions based on a superstition that are non-essential, non-binding parts of Judaism, and therefore not normative Jewish practice. In conclusion, Jews are not obligated to believe in the existence of shedim, as posek rabbi David Bar-Hayim points out.[15]

Talmudic tradition

In the Jerusalem Talmud notions of shedim ("demons" or "evil spirits") are almost unknown or occur only very rarely, whereas in the Babylon Talmud there are many references to shedim and magical incantations. The existence of shedim in general was not questioned by most of the Babylonian Talmudists. As a consequence of the rise of influence of the Babylonian Talmud over that of the Jerusalem Talmud, late rabbis in general took as fact the existence of shedim, nor did most of the medieval thinkers question their reality. However, rationalists like Maimonides, Saadia Gaon and Abraham ibn Ezra and others explicitly denied their existence, and completely rejected concepts of demons, evil spirits, negative spiritual influences, attaching and possessing spirits. Their point of view eventually became mainstream Jewish understanding.[8][17]

Kabbalah

Some benevolent shedim were used in kabbalistic ceremonies (as with the golem of Rabbi Yehuda Loevy) and malevolent shedim (mazikin, from the root meaning "to damage") were often credited with possession.[18]

Aggadah

Aggadic tales from the Persian tradition describe the shedim, the mazziḳim ("harmers"), and the ruḥin ("spirits"). There were also lilin ("night spirits"), ṭelane ("shade", or "evening spirits"), ṭiharire ("midday spirits"), and ẓafrire ("morning spirits"), as well as the "demons that bring famine" and "such as cause storm and earthquake".[19][8] According to some aggadic stories about demons is told that they were under the dominion of a king or chief, either Asmodai[20] or, in the older Aggadah, Samael ("the angel of death"), who killed via poison. Stories in the fashion of this kind of folklore never became an essential feature of Jewish theology.[17] Although occasionally an angel is called satan in the Babylon Talmud, this does not refer to a demon: "Stand not in the way of an ox when coming from the pasture, for Satan dances between his horns".[21]

Second Temple period texts

To the Qumran community during the Second Temple period this apotropaic prayer was assigned, stating: "And, I the Sage, declare the grandeur of his radiance in order to frighten and terri[fy] all the spirits of the ravaging angels and the bastard spirits, demons, Liliths, owls" (Dead Sea Scrolls, "Songs of the Sage," Lines 4–5).[22][23]

In the Dead Sea Scrolls, there exists a fragment entitled "Curses of Belial" (Curses of Belial (Dead Sea Scrolls, 394, 4Q286(4Q287, fr. 6)=4QBerakhot)). This fragment holds much rich language that reflects the sentiment shared between the Qumran towards Belial. In many ways this text shows how these people thought Belial influenced sin through the way they address him and speak of him. By addressing "Belial and all his guilty lot," (4Q286:2) they make it clear that he is not only impious, but also guilty of sins. Informing this state of uncleanliness are both his "hostile" and "wicked design" (4Q286:3,4). Through this design, Belial poisons the thoughts of those who are not necessarily sinners. Thus a dualism is born from those inclined to be wicked and those who aren't.[24] It is clear that Belial directly influences sin by the mention of "abominable plots" and "guilty inclination" (4Q286:8,9). These are both mechanisms by which Belial advances his evil agenda that the Qumran have exposed and are calling upon God to protect them from. There is a deep sense of fear that Belial will "establish in their heart their evil devices" (4Q286:11,12). This sense of fear is the stimulus for this prayer in the first place. Without the worry and potential of falling victim to Belial's demonic sway, the Qumran people would never feel impelled to craft a curse. This very fact illuminates the power Belial was believed to hold over mortals, and the fact that sin proved to be a temptation that must stem from an impure origin.

In Jubilees 1:20, Belial's appearance continues to support the notion that sin is a direct product of his influence. Moreover, Belial's presence acts as a placeholder for all negative influences or those that would potentially interfere with God's will and a pious existence. Similarly to the "gentiles ... [who] cause them to sin against you" (Jubilees 1:19), Belial is associated with a force that drives one away from God. Coupled in this plea for protection against foreign rule, in this case the Egyptians, is a plea for protection from "the spirit of Belial" (Jubilees 1:19). Belial's tendency is to "ensnare [you] from every path of righteousness" (Jubilees 1:19). This phrase is intentionally vague, allowing room for interpretation. Everyone, in one way or another, finds themselves straying from the path of righteousness and by pawning this transgression off on Belial, he becomes a scapegoat for all misguidance, no matter what the cause. By associating Belial with all sorts of misfortune and negative external influence, the Qumran people are henceforth allowed to be let off for the sins they commit.

Belial's presence is found throughout the War Scrolls, located in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and is established as the force occupying the opposite end of the spectrum of God. In Col. I, verse 1, the very first line of the document, it is stated that "the first attack of the Sons of Light shall be undertaken against the forces of the Sons of Darkness, the army of Belial" (1Q33;1:1).[25] This dichotomy sheds light on the negative connotations that Belial held at the time.[26] Where God and his Sons of Light are forces that protect and promote piety, Belial and his Sons of Darkness cater to the opposite, instilling the desire to sin and encouraging destruction. This opposition is only reinforced later in the document; it continues to read that the "holy ones" will "strike a blow at wickedness", ultimately resulting in the "annihilation of the Sons of Darkness" (1Q33:1:13). This epic battle between good and evil described in such abstract terms, however it is also applicable to everyday life and serves as a lens through which the Qumran see the world. Every day is the Sons of Light battle evil and call upon God to help them overcome evil in ways small and large.

Belial's influence is not taken lightly. In Col. XI, verse 8, the text depicts God conquering the "hordes of Belial" (1Q33;11:8). This defeat is indicative of God's power over Belial and his forces of temptation. However the fact that Belial is the leader of hordes is a testament to how persuasive he can be. If Belial was obviously an arbiter of wrongdoing and was blatantly in the wrong, he wouldn’t be able to amass an army. This fact serves as a warning message, reasserting God’s strength, while also making it extremely clear the breadth of Belial's prowess. Belial's "council is to condemn and convict", so the Qumran feel strongly that their people are not only aware of his purpose, but also equipped to combat his influence (1Q33;13:11).

In the Damascus Document, Belial also makes a prominent appearance, being established as a source of evil and an origin of several types of sin. In Column 4, the first mention of Belial reads: "Belial shall be unleashed against Israel" (4Q266). This phrase is able to be interpreted myriad different ways. Belial is characterized in a wild and uncontrollable fashion, making him seem more dangerous and unpredictable. The notion of being unleashed is such that once he is free to roam; he is unstoppable and able to carry out his agenda uninhibited. The passage then goes to enumerate the "three nets" (4Q266;4:16) by which Belial captures his prey and forces them to sin. "Fornication ..., riches ..., [and] the profanation of the temple" (4Q266;4:17,18) make up the three nets. These three temptations were three agents by which people were driven to sin, so subsequently, the Qumran people crafted the nets of Belial to rationalize why these specific temptations were so toxic. Later in Column 5, Belial is mentioned again as one of "the removers of bound who led Israel astray" (4Q266;5:20). This statement is a clear display of Belial's influence over man regarding sin. The passage goes on to state: "they preached rebellion against ... God" (4Q266;5:21,22). Belial's purpose is to undermine the teachings of God, and he achieves this by imparting his nets on humans, or the incentive to sin.[27]

Pseudepigrapha and Deuterocanonical books

Demons are sometimes included into biblical interpretation. In the story of Passover, the Bible tells the story as "the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt" (Exodus 12:21–29). In the Book of Jubilees, which is considered canonical only by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,[34] this same event is told slightly differently: "All the powers of [the demon] Mastema had been let loose to slay all the first-born in the land of Egypt...And the powers of the Lord did everything according as the Lord commanded them" (Jubilees 49:2–4).

In the Genesis flood narrative the author explains how God was noticing "how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways" (Genesis 6:12). In Jubilees the sins of man are attributed to "the unclean demons [who] began to lead astray the children of the sons of Noah, and to make to err and destroy them" (Jubilees 10:1). In Jubilees Mastema questions the loyalty of Abraham and tells God to "bid him offer him as a burnt offering on the altar, and Thou wilt see if he will do this command" (Jubilees 17:16). The discrepancy between the story in Jubilees and the story in Genesis 22 exists with the presence of Mastema. In Genesis, God tests the will of Abraham merely to determine whether he is a true follower, however; in Jubilees Mastema has an agenda behind promoting the sacrifice of Abraham's son, "an even more demonic act than that of the Satan in Job."[35] In Jubilees, where Mastema, an angel tasked with the tempting of mortals into sin and iniquity, requests that God give him a tenth of the spirits of the children of the watchers, demons, in order to aid the process.[36] These demons are passed into Mastema’s authority, where once again, an angel is in charge of demonic spirits.

Demon Seated by Mikhail Vrubel (1890), an illustration to the Russian romantic poem demon by Mikhail Lermontov. Vrubel views this demon as "a spirit, not so much evil as suffering and sorrowing, but in all that a powerful spirit... a majestic spirit".[37]

The sources of demonic influence were thought to originate from the Watchers or Nephilim, who are first mentioned in Genesis 6 and are the focus of 1 Enoch Chapters 1–16, and also in Jubilees 10. The Nephilim were seen as the source of the sin and evil on earth because they are referenced in Genesis 6:4 before the story of the Flood.[38] In Genesis 6:5, God sees evil in the hearts of men. The passage states, "the wickedness of humankind on earth was great", and that "Every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only continually evil" (Genesis 5). The mention of the Nephilim in the preceding sentence connects the spread of evil to the Nephilim. Enoch is a very similar story to Genesis 6:4–5, and provides further description of the story connecting the Nephilim to the corruption of humans. In Enoch, sin originates when angels descend from heaven and fornicate with women, birthing giants as tall as 300 cubits. The giants and the angels' departure of Heaven and mating with human women are also seen as the source of sorrow and sadness on Earth. The book of Enoch shows that these fallen angels can lead humans to sin through direct interaction or through providing forbidden knowledge. In Enoch, Semyaz leads the angels to mate with women. Angels mating with humans is against God's commands and is a cursed action, resulting in the wrath of God coming upon Earth. Azazel indirectly influences humans to sin by teaching them divine knowledge not meant for humans. Asael brings down the "stolen mysteries" (Enoch 16:3). Asael gives the humans weapons, which they use to kill each other. Humans are also taught other sinful actions such as beautification techniques, alchemy, astrology and how to make medicine (considered forbidden knowledge at the time). Demons originate from the evil spirits of the giants that are cursed by God to wander the earth. These spirits are stated in Enoch to "corrupt, fall, be excited, and fall upon the earth, and cause sorrow" (Enoch 15:11).[39]

The Book of Jubilees conveys that sin occurs when Cainan accidentally transcribes astrological knowledge used by the Watchers (Jubilees 8). This differs from Enoch in that it does not place blame on the Angels. However, in Jubilees 10:4 the evil spirits of the Watchers are discussed as evil and still remain on earth to corrupt the humans. God binds only 90 percent of the Watchers and destroys them, leaving 10 percent to be ruled by Mastema. Because the evil in humans is great, only 10 percent would be needed to corrupt and lead humans astray. These spirits of the giants also referred to as "the bastards" in the Apotropaic prayer Songs of the Sage, which lists the names of demons the narrator hopes to expel.[40]

Since Early Christianity, demonology has developed from a simple acceptance of demons to a complex study that has grown from the original ideas taken from Jewish demonology and Christian scriptures.[43] Christian demonology is studied in depth within the Roman Catholic Church,[44] although many other Christian churches affirm and discuss the existence of demons.[45][46]

Building upon the few references to daemons in the New Testament, especially the poetry of the Book of Revelation, Christian writers of apocrypha from the 2nd century onwards created a more complicated tapestry of beliefs about "demons" that was largely independent of Christian scripture.

The contemporary Roman Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons are real beings rather than just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of officially sanctioned exorcists which perform many exorcisms each year. The exorcists of the Catholic Church teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorized to be performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance, which any Christian can offer for themselves or others.[47]

At various times in Christian history, attempts have been made to classify demons according to various proposed demonic hierarchies.

In the Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cast out many demons from those afflicted with various ailments. He also lent this power to some of his disciples (Luke 10:17).

Islam

Demons depicted in the Book of Wonders, a late 14th century Arabic manuscript

The Islamic term "Shaitan" or "Shayateen" refers to demons in western usage.[49] The term is sometimes also translated as "devils" or "satans" and can also apply to sapient creatures when they act in accordance with the demons. Thus Islam includes demons among humans and among Jinn ("Shayateen al-Ins" and "Shayateen al-Jinn"), but demons make up a type of supernatural creature distinct from Jinn and angels.[50] Demons themselves can be classified into descendants of Iblis, fallen angels who sided with Iblis' rebellion against the creation of humanity,[51] and the Afarit, an infernal demon able to take the form of a death spirit.[52] Unlike Jinn, demons do not share human traits, like raising families, free-will, and mortality, although prayers are held to dissolve or banish them.[53] Therefore, amulets or talismans, engraved with the names of God or a prayer, are common in folk Islam, to provide protection against demons. Whisperings of demons are called waswās and may enter the hearts of humans, especially in states of strong emotion like depression or anger.[54]

Hinduism

Asuras

The Army of Super Creatures – from The Saugandhika Parinaya Manuscript (1821 CE)

Originally, Asura, in the earliest hymns of the Rig Veda, meant any supernatural spirit, either good or bad. Since the /s/ of the Indic linguistic branch is cognate with the /h/ of the Early Iranian languages, the word Asura, representing a category of celestial beings, became the word Ahura (Mazda), the Supreme God of the monotheistic Zoroastrians. Ancient Hinduism tells that Devas (also called suras) and Asuras are half-brothers, sons of the same father Kashyapa; although some of the Devas, such as Varuna, are also called Asuras. Later, during Puranic age, Asura and Rakshasa came to exclusively mean any of a race of anthropomorphic, powerful, possibly evil beings. Daitya (lit. sons of the mother "Diti"), Rakshasa (lit. from "harm to be guarded against"), and Asura are incorrectly translated into English as "demon".

Post Vedic, Hindu scriptures, pious, highly enlightened Asuras, such as Prahlada and Vibhishana, are not uncommon. The Asura are not fundamentally against the gods, nor do they tempt humans to fall. Many people metaphorically interpret the Asura as manifestations of the ignoble passions in the human mind and as a symbolic devices. There were also cases of power-hungry Asuras challenging various aspects of the Gods, but only to be defeated eventually and seek forgiveness—see Surapadman and Narakasura.

Evil spirits

Hinduism advocates the reincarnation and transmigration of souls according to one's karma. Souls (Atman) of the dead are adjudged by the Yama and are accorded various purging punishments before being reborn. Humans that have committed extraordinary wrongs are condemned to roam as lonely, often evil, spirits for a length of time before being reborn. Many kinds of such spirits (Vetalas, Pishachas, Bhūta) are recognized in the later Hindu texts. These beings, in a limited sense, can be called demons.

Bahá'í Faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, demons are not regarded as independent evil spirits as they are in some faiths. Rather, evil spirits described in various faiths' traditions, such as Satan, fallen angels, demons and jinns, are metaphors for the base character traits a human being may acquire and manifest when he turns away from God and follows his lower nature. Belief in the existence of ghosts and earthbound spirits is rejected and considered to be the product of superstition.[55]

Ceremonial magic

While some people fear demons, or attempt to exorcise them, others willfully attempt to summon them for knowledge, assistance, or power. The ceremonial magician usually consults a grimoire, which gives the names and abilities of demons as well as detailed instructions for conjuring and controlling them. Grimoires are not limited to demons – some give the names of angels or spirits which can be called, a process called theurgy. The use of ceremonial magic to call demons is also known as goetia, the name taken from a section in the famous grimoire known as the Lesser Key of Solomon.[56]

Wicca

Modern interpretations

The classic Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns.

Psychologist Wilhelm Wundt remarked that "among the activities attributed by myths all over the world to demons, the harmful predominate, so that in popular belief bad demons are clearly older than good ones."[58]Sigmund Freud developed this idea and claimed that the concept of demons was derived from the important relation of the living to the dead: "The fact that demons are always regarded as the spirits of those who have died recently shows better than anything the influence of mourning on the origin of the belief in demons."[59]

M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject, People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil[60] and Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption.[61] Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie he provides identifying characteristics of an evil person, whom he classified as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil Peck goes into significant detail describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the myth of possession by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck came to the conclusion that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil and that possessed people are not actually evil; rather, they are doing battle with the forces of evil.[62]

Although Peck's earlier work was met with widespread popular acceptance, his work on the topics of evil and possession has generated significant debate and derision. Much was made of his association with (and admiration for) the controversial Malachi Martin, a Roman Catholic priest and a former Jesuit, despite the fact that Peck consistently called Martin a liar and a manipulator.[63][64] Richard Woods, a Roman Catholic priest and theologian, has claimed that Dr. Peck misdiagnosed patients based upon a lack of knowledge regarding dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder) and had apparently transgressed the boundaries of professional ethics by attempting to persuade his patients into accepting Christianity.[63] Father Woods admitted that he has never witnessed a genuine case of demonic possession in all his years.[65][66][67]

According to S. N. Chiu, God is shown sending a demon against Saul in 1 Samuel 16 and 18 in order to punish him for the failure to follow God's instructions, showing God as having the power to use demons for his own purposes, putting the demon under his divine authority.[68] According to the Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, demons, despite being typically associated with evil, are often shown to be under divine control, and not acting of their own devices.[69]

^Florentino Martinez Garcia, Magic in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Metamorphosis of Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period, compilers Jan Bremmer and Jan R. Veenstra (Leuven: Peeters, 2003).

1.
Assyro-Babylonian
–
Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a sprachbund, Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-millennium BC. From the second half of the third millennium BC, texts written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the second millennium BC, two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively, for centuries, Akkadian was the native language in Mesopotamian nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. However, it began to decline during the Neo-Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, by the Hellenistic period, the language was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia. The last known Akkadian cuneiform document dates from the 1st century AD, Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to East Africa, which then spread to West, Northwest and Northeast Africa. Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup and this novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order. Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana, other Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə. The origin of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown, in contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant fricative, ḫ. Akkadian lost both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic languages, until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricated. Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to c.2500 BC and it was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian scribes, the cuneiform script could represent either Sumerian logograms, Sumerian syllables, Akkadian syllables. For this reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for the word ilum, additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine names. Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a phonetic value. Certain signs, such as AḪ, do not distinguish between the different vowel qualities, nor is there any coordination in the other direction, the syllable -ša-, for example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the sign NĪĜ. Both of these are used for the same syllable in the same text

2.
Pazuzu
–
In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind, brother of Humbaba and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the wind, the bearer of storms. Pazuzu is often depicted as a combination of animal and human parts. He has the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, talons of an eagle and he has his right hand up and left hand down. Pazuzu is the demon of the southwest wind known for bringing famine during dry seasons, Pazuzu was invoked in apotropaic amulets, which combat the powers of his rival, the malicious goddess Lamashtu, who was believed to cause harm to mother and child during childbirth. Although Pazuzu is, himself, considered to be a spirit, he drives and frightens away other evil spirits. In the 1971 novel The Exorcist and the film based on the novel and he reappears in the 1977 sequel Exorcist II, The Heretic. In this film, Pazuzu is both named as the demon antagonist of Regan MacNeil and the helper of Father Philip Lamont. Pazuzu appears on the cover of the Gorillaz compilation album D-Sides, as a statue in front of the bands former recording studio, in the music videos for the bands songs Dare. Pazuzu is mentioned in the Simon Necronomicon, a publication of Avon Books that purports to document incantations to invoke incredible things, beings, and monsters into visible form. He is described therein as Lord of all fevers and plagues, grinning Dark Angel of the Four Wings, horned, with rotting genitalia, thus the beings of the Simon Necronomicon bear little resemblance to either Sumerian myth or Lovecraftian fiction. Pazuzu is the demon that allegedly haunts Adèle Blanc-Sec in Tardis graphic novel The Demon of the Eiffel Tower, Pazuzu also appears in Mummies on Parade. Pazuzu is featured in the 2014-15 NBC television series Constantine in a two-part episode The Saint of Last Resorts, however, Pazuzu has no wish to leave his new host, and emerges whenever Constantine is in danger, causing the deaths of at least eight dangerous gangbangers. Luckily, Constantines friend Anna-Marie is able to exorcise Pazuzu by the end of the second part, enlil Edimmu Ugallu Umū dabrūtu Figure of Pazuzu - Oriental Institute of Chicago Bronze head of Pazuzu - British Museum Highlights Pazuzu, Beyond Good and Evil - Metropolitan Museum of Art

3.
Louvre
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The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, however, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property

4.
Koine Greek
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It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek displayed a wide spectrum of different styles, ranging from more conservative literary forms to the vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed further into Medieval Greek, Koine Greek remained the court language of the Byzantine Empire until its dissolution in 1453, while Medieval and eventually Modern Greek were the everyday language. Literary Koine was the medium of much of post-classical Greek literary and scholarly writing, such as the works of Plutarch, Koine is also the language of the Christian New Testament, of the Septuagint, and of most early Christian theological writing by the Church Fathers. In this context, Koine Greek is also known as Biblical, New Testament and it continues to be used as the liturgical language of services in the Greek Orthodox Church. The word koinē is the Greek word for common, and is understood as referring to the common dialect. The word is pronounced /kɔɪˈneɪ/, /ˈkɔɪneɪ/ or /kiːˈniː/ in US English, the pronunciation of the word in Koine gradually changed from Greek pronunciation, to Greek pronunciation. Its pronunciation in Modern Greek is, the term was applied in several different senses by ancient scholars. Others chose to refer to Koine as the Alexandrian dialect or the dialect of Alexandria, the former was often used by modern classicists. Koine Greek arose as a dialect within the armies of Alexander the Great. Under the leadership of Macedon, their newly formed common variety was spoken from the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt to the Seleucid Empire of Mesopotamia and it replaced existing ancient Greek dialects with an everyday form that people anywhere could understand. The passage into the period, known as Medieval Greek. The post-Classical period of Greek thus refers to the creation and evolution of Koine Greek throughout the entire Hellenistic, the linguistic roots of the Common Greek dialect had been unclear since ancient times. During the Hellenistic period, most scholars thought of Koine as the result of the mixture of the four main Ancient Greek dialects, ἡ ἐκ τῶν τεττάρων συνεστῶσα. The view accepted by most scholars today was given by the Greek linguist Georgios Hatzidakis, who showed that, despite the composition of the Four, the stable nucleus of Koine Greek is Attic. In other words, Koine Greek can be regarded as Attic with the admixture of elements especially from Ionic, the degree of importance of the non-Attic linguistic elements on Koine can vary depending on the region of the Hellenistic World. The literary Koine of the Hellenistic age resembles Attic in such a degree that it is mentioned as Common Attic. Koine Greek was therefore considered a form of Greek which was not worthy of attention

5.
Religion
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Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities

6.
Occultism
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The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance

7.
Literature
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Literature, in its broadest sense, is any single body of written works. Its Latin root literatura/litteratura was used to refer to all written accounts, developments in print technology have allowed an evergrowing distribution and proliferation of written works, culminating in electronic literature. There have been attempts to define literature. Simon and Delyse Ryan begin their attempt to answer the question What is Literature, with the observation, The quest to discover a definition for literature is a road that is much travelled, though the point of arrival, if ever reached, is seldom satisfactory. Most attempted definitions are broad and vague, and they change over time. In fact, the thing that is certain about defining literature is that the definition will change. Concepts of what is literature change over time as well, definitions of literature have varied over time, it is a culturally relative definition. In Western Europe prior to the century, literature as a term indicated all books. A more restricted sense of the term emerged during the Romantic period, contemporary debates over what constitutes literature can be seen as returning to the older, more inclusive notion of what constitutes literature. Cultural studies, for instance, takes as its subject of both popular and minority genres, in addition to canonical works. The value judgment definition of literature considers it to cover exclusively those writings that possess high quality or distinction and this sort of definition is that used in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition when it classifies literature as the best expression of the best thought reduced to writing. The formalist definition is that literature foregrounds poetic effects, it is the literariness or poetic of literature that distinguishes it from ordinary speech or other kinds of writing. Etymologically, the term derives from Latin literatura/litteratura learning, a writing, grammar, originally writing formed with letters, in spite of this, the term has also been applied to spoken or sung texts. Poetry is a form of art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of. Possibly as a result of Aristotles influence, poetry before the century was usually less a technical designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art. As a form it may pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral tradition, novel, a long fictional prose narrative. It was the close relation to real life that differentiated it from the chivalric romance, in most European languages the equivalent term is roman. In English, the term emerged from the Romance languages in the fifteenth century, with the meaning of news, it came to indicate something new

8.
Fiction
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Fiction is the classification for any story or similar work derived from imagination—in other words, not based strictly on history or fact. Fiction does not refer to a mode or genre, unless used in its narrowest sense to mean a literary narrative. Instead, the context of fiction is generally open to interpretation, characters and events within a fictional work may even be openly set in their own context entirely separate from the known universe, a fictional universe. Science fiction, for example, predicts or supposes technologies that are not realities at the time of the works creation, for example, Jules Vernes novel From the Earth to the Moon was published in 1865 and only in 1969 did astronaut Neil Armstrong first land on the moon. Historical fiction places imaginary characters into real historical events, in the early historical novel Waverley, Sir Walter Scotts fictional character Edward Waverley meets a figure from history, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and takes part in the Battle of Prestonpans. Some works of fiction are slightly or greatly re-imagined based on some originally true story, often, even when the author claims the fictional story is basically true, there may be artificial additions and subtractions from the true story to make it more interesting. One such example would be Tim OBriens The Things They Carried, creators of fantasy sometimes introduce entire imaginary creatures or beings such as dragons and fairies. In terms of the separation between fiction and non-fiction, the lines are now commonly understood as blurred, showing more overlap than mutual exclusion. Even fiction usually has elements of, or grounding in, truth, also, infinite fictional possibilities themselves signal the impossibility of fully knowing reality, provocatively demonstrating that there is no criterion to measure constructs of reality. The Internet has had a impact on the creation and distribution of fiction. Also, digital libraries such as Project Gutenberg make public domain texts more readily available, the combination of inexpensive home computers, the Internet and the creativity of its users has also led to new forms of fiction, such as interactive computer games or computer-generated comics. Countless forums for fan fiction can be online, where loyal followers of specific fictional realms create and distribute derivative stories. Types of literary fiction in prose, Short story, A work of at least 2,000 words, the boundary between a long short story and a novella is vague. Novella, A work of at least 17,500 words, joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is an example of a novella. Novel, A work of 50,000 words or more, cartoonist Character Fiction writing Legend Mythology Non-fiction Pseudohistory Eco, Umberto 2009. On the ontology of fictional characters, A semiotic approach

9.
Mythology
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Mythology refers variously to the collected myths of a group of people or to the study of such myths. Myths are the people tell to explain nature, history. Myth is a feature of every culture, mythologizing continues, as shown in contemporary mythopoeia such as urban legends and the expansive fictional mythoi created by fantasy novels and comics. A cultures collective mythology helps convey belonging, shared and religious experiences, behavioral models, the study of myth began in ancient history. Rival classes of the Greek myths by Euhemerus, Plato and Sallustius were developed by the Neoplatonists, the nineteenth-century comparative mythology reinterpreted myth as a primitive and failed counterpart of science, a disease of language, or a misinterpretation of magical ritual. Recent approaches often view myths as manifestations of psychological, cultural, or societal truths, the term mythology predates the word myth by centuries. It first appeared in the fifteenth-century, borrowed from the Middle French term mythologie, the word mythology, comes from Middle French mythologie, from Late Latin mythologia, from Greek μυθολογία mythología from μῦθος mythos and -λογία -logia. The word mythología appears in Plato, but was used as a term for fiction or story-telling of any kind, combining mỹthos. From Lydgate until the seventeenth or eighteenth-century, mythology was similarly used to mean a moral, fable, from its earliest use in reference to a collection of traditional stories or beliefs, mythology implied the falsehood of the stories being described. It came to be applied by analogy with similar bodies of traditional stories among other cultures around the world. The Greek loanword mythos and Latinate mythus both appeared in English before the first example of myth in 1830, in present use, mythology usually refers to the collected myths of a group of people, but may also mean the study of such myths. For example, Greek mythology, Roman mythology and Hittite mythology all describe the body of myths retold among those cultures, dundes defined myth as a sacred narrative that explains how the world and humanity evolved into their present form. Lincoln defined myth as ideology in narrative form, scholars in other fields use the term myth in varied ways. In a broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story, due to this pejorative sense, some scholars opted for the term mythos. Its use was similarly pejorative and now commonly refers to its Aristotelian sense as a plot point or to a collective mythology. The term is distinguished from didactic literature such as fables. Main characters in myths are usually gods, demigods or supernatural humans, however, many exceptions or combinations exist, as in the Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid. Myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and are linked to religion or spirituality

10.
Folklore
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Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes and they include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations like Christmas and weddings, folk dances, each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next, for folklore is not taught in a formal school curriculum or studied in the fine arts. Instead these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstration, the academic study of folklore is called folkloristics. To fully understand folklore, it is helpful to clarify its component parts and it is well-documented that the term was coined in 1846 by the Englishman William Thoms. He fabricated it to replace the contemporary terminology of popular antiquities or popular literature, the second half of the compound word, lore, proves easier to define as its meaning has stayed relatively stable over the last two centuries. Coming from Old English lār instruction, and with German and Dutch cognates, it is the knowledge and traditions of a particular group, the concept of folk proves somewhat more elusive. When Thoms first created this term, folk applied only to rural, frequently poor, a more modern definition of folk is a social group which includes two or more persons with common traits, who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions. Folk is a concept which can refer to a nation as in American folklore or to a single family. This expanded social definition of folk supports a view of the material, i. e. the lore. These now include all things people make with words, things they make with their hands, Folklore is no longer circumscribed as being chronologically old or obsolete. The folklorist studies the traditional artifacts of a group and how they are transmitted. Transmission is a part of the folklore process. Without communicating these beliefs and customs within the group over space and time, for folklore is also a verb. These folk artifacts continue to be passed along informally, as a rule anonymously, the folk group is not individualistic, it is community-based and nurtures its lore in community. As new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, in direct contrast to high culture, where any single work of a named artist is protected by copyright law, folklore is a function of shared identity within the social group. Having identified folk artifacts, the professional folklorist strives to understand the significance of these beliefs, customs, for these cultural units would not be passed along unless they had some continued relevance within the group

11.
Ancient Near Eastern religions
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The religions of the ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some early examples of primitive monolatry, Ashurism and Monism. Some scholars believe that the similarities between these religions indicate that the religions are related, a known as patternism. Many religions of the ancient near East and their offshoots can be traced to Proto-Semitic religion, other religions in the ancient Near East include Ancient Egyptian religion, the Luwian and Hittite religions of Asia Minor and the Sumerian religion of ancient Mesopotamia. Offshoots of Proto-Semitic religion include Assyro-Babylonian religion, Canaanite religion, judaism is a development of Canaanite religion, both Indo-European and Semitic religions influenced the ancient Greek religion, and Zoroastrianism was a product of ancient Indo-Iranian religion. The history of the ancient Near East spans more than two millennia, from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age, in the now known as the Middle East. This article will attempt to outline the common traits of ancient Near Eastern religions,2500 BC, allow glimpses of Sumerian mythology and Egyptian religion. The early Hittite religion bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, Ancient Greek religion was strongly influenced by ancient Near Eastern mythology, but is usually not included in the term. The Mystery religions of Hellenism were again consciously connected with Egyptian religion, there were also super-regional mythemes and deities, such as the God Tammuz and the descent to the underworld. The system represents a combination of two factors, one of popular origin, the other the outcome of speculation in the schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. Starting with this belief the Priests and Priestesses built up the theory of the correspondence between occurrences on earth and phenomena in the Heavens. Myths that symbolized changes in season or occurrences in nature were projected on the heavens and this factor appears to less advantage in the unfolding of the views concerning life after death. Occasionally a favoured individual was permitted to escape from this general fate, in Assyrian and Babylonian mythology the seven evil Demons were known as Shedu or Lamassu, meaning Storm-Demon. Ancient Iranian lands had a diversity of beliefs, and the religions included Zoroastrianism, Mazdakism, Manicheism, Yazdanism, Mandeanism. Thus it has proved by clear evidence and plain reasoning that a powerful monarch was established in Iran long before the Assyrian or Pishadi government. That it was in fact, a Hindu monarchy, though any may choose to call it Cusian, Casdean or Scythian, Ancient Mitanni is modern-day Kurdistan, and from excavations it was discovered to have a history of Vedic practices and the Hindu religion. The dominant religious rituals and beliefs of ancient Egypt merged and developed over time, as an example, during the New Kingdom, the Gods Ra and Amun were syncretized into a single God, Amun-Ra. Such syncretism should be distinguished from mere groupings, also referred to as such as Amun, Mut. Over time, Gods took part in multiple syncretic relationships, for instance, similarly, Ptah, Seker, and Osiris becamePtah-Seker-Osiris

12.
Abrahamic traditions
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Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% of the population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions. Christianity claims 33% of the population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0. 2%. It has been suggested that the phrase, Abrahamic religion, may mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source. Christians refer to Abraham as a father in faith, there is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim, indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham. Jewish tradition claims descent from Abraham, and adherents follow his practices and it is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abrahams son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites. The Báb, regarded by Baháís as a predecessor to Baháulláh, was a Sayyid, or a descendant of Muhammad. Tradition also holds that Baháulláh is a descendant of Abraham through his third wife, while there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, there are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by most of Christianity, and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháí Faith not shared by Judaism. Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob and it has a strictly unitary view of God, and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the Oral Torah. In the 19th century and 20th centuries Judaism developed a number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in the Mediterranean Basin of the first century CE and evolved into a separate religion—Christianity—with distinctive beliefs, Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be God the Son, one person of the Trinity. The Christian biblical canons are usually held to be the ultimate authority, over many centuries, Christianity divided into three main branches, dozens of significant denominations, and hundreds of smaller ones. Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century CE with a unitary view of God. Muslims hold the Quran to be the authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teachings and practices of a central. The Islamic faith consider all prophets and messengers from Adam through the messenger to carry the same Islamic monotheistic principles. Soon after its founding Islam split into two branches, each of which now have a number of denominations

13.
Christian demonology
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Christian demonology is the study of demons from a Christian point of view. In some Christian traditions, the deities of other religions are interpreted or created as demons, the evolution of the Christian Devil and pentagram are examples of early rituals and images that showcase evil qualities, as seen by the Christian churches. Since Early Christianity, demonology has developed from an acceptance of demons to a complex study that has grown from the original ideas taken from Jewish demonology. Christian demonology is studied in depth within the Roman Catholic Church, although many other Christian churches affirm, albertus Magnus said of demonology, A daemonibus docetur, de daemonibus docet, et ad daemones ducit. According to the Book of Enoch, the spirits of the Nephilim are demons. Enoch explains, And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them. From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgement. —I Enoch 15, 8–12,16,1 R. H. Charles There are many demons in Christian demonology, in 1467, Alfonso de Spina asserted that the number of demons was 133,316,666. This idea that one third of the angels turned into demons seems to be due to an exegesis of the Book of Revelation 12, the Lesser Key of Solomon copied the division in legions from Pseudomonarchia Daemonum but added more demons, and so more legions. It is suggestive that both Spina and Weyer used 666 and other numbers composed by more than one 6 to calculate the number of demons. Gregory of Nyssa, in the 4th century, believed in the existence of male and female demons and supported the idea that demons procreated with other demons, other scholars supported the idea that they could not procreate and that the number of demons was constant. In Christian tradition, demons are evil angels, and have the characteristics as their good angel counterparts, spiritual, immutable. Demons are not omniscient, but each one has a specific knowledge and their power is limited to that which God allows, so they are not omnipotent. Christian demonology states that the mission of the demons is to humans to sin. Christian tradition holds that temptations come from three sources, the world, the flesh, and the devil, in the Gospel of Luke, it is stated that demons walk arid places, and finding no rest return to their previous home. 24 When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest, Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left. ’25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and the final condition of that person is worse than the first. Demons can take any desired appearance, even that of an angel of light, for such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ

14.
Exorcism
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Exorcism is the religious or spiritual practice of purportedly evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed. The practice is ancient and part of the system of many cultures. There was “a 50% increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s”, in Christianity, exorcism is the practice of casting out demons. In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the Christian Church, the exorcist may use prayers and religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. The exorcist often invokes God, Jesus and/or several different angels and archangels to intervene with the exorcism, a survey of Christian exorcists found that most exorcists believe that any mature Christian can perform an exorcism, not just members of clergy. Christian exorcists most commonly believe the authority given to them by the Father, Son, therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as more of a cure than a punishment. The mainstream rituals usually take this account, making sure that there is no violence to the possessed. In Catholic Christianity, exorcisms are performed in the name of Jesus Christ. A distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a baptism or with the permission of a Bishop, the Catholic rite for a formal exorcism, called a Major Exorcism, is given in Section 11 of the Rituale Romanum. The Ritual lists guidelines for conducting an exorcism, and for determining when a formal exorcism is required, priests are instructed to carefully determine that the nature of the affliction is not actually a psychological or physical illness before proceeding. In Catholic practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is an ordained priest, the exorcist recites prayers according to the rubrics of the rite, and may make use of religious materials such as icons and sacramentals. The exorcist invokes God—specifically the Name of Jesus—as well as members of the Church Triumphant, according to Catholic understanding, several weekly exorcisms over many years are sometimes required to expel a deeply entrenched demon. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as a cure and not some kind of punishment. Beliefs and practices pertaining to the practice of exorcism are prominently connected with Hindus, of the four Vedas, the Atharva Veda is said to contain the secrets related to exorcism, magic and alchemy. The basic means of exorcism are the mantra and the used in both Vedic and Tantric traditions. Vaishnava traditions also employ a recitation of names of Narasimha and reading scriptures and it is also believed that, praying to Lord Hanuman, gives the best result. It is also mentioned in the Hanuman Chalisa and it is believed that just uttering the name of Lord Hanuman makes the evil forces and devils tremble, in fear. The main puranic resource on ghost and death-related information is Garuda Purana, a complete description of birth and death and also about the human soul are explained in Katō Upanishad, a part of Yajur Veda

15.
Greco-Roman magic
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The study of magic in the Greco-Roman world is a branch of the disciplines of classics, ancient history and religious studies. In the ancient post-hellenistic world of the Greeks and Romans, historians and archaeologists view the public, examples of this phenomenon are found in the various state and cult Temples, Jewish Synagogues and churches. These were important hubs for ancient peoples, representing a connection between the realms and the earthly planes. This context of magic has become a study, especially in the last twenty years. Authors William Swatos and Peter Kivisto define Magic as, any attempt to control the environment or the self by means that are either untested or untestable, such as charms or spells. The principal defining factor of magic in the world is that it was held in low esteem. However, magic seems to have borrowed from religion, adopting religious ceremonies and divine names, also, some mainstream religious rites openly set out to constrain the gods. Other rough criteria sometimes used to distinguish magic from religion include, aimed at selfish or immoral ends, and conducted in secrecy, often for a paying client. Religious rites, on the hand, are more often aimed at lofty goals such as salvation or rebirth. Alongside the more common manifestations of religion, ancient peoples sought individual contact and assistance, along with influence. Ultimately, the practice of magic includes rites that do not play a part in worship and this fusing of practices reached its peak in the world of the Roman Empire, in the 3rd to 5th centuries CE. Via Latin magicus, the word derives from Greek magikos, with magic being the art and craft of the magos. The relationship with magic derives from the Hellenistic identification of Zoroaster as the inventor of astrology and magic. However, in the main, Zoroaster seems to have been almost exclusively identified with astrology, because magos/magikos were influenced by the association with the old Greek word for magic, Greek magos/magikos accordingly held the same meaning that magic and magician do today. Accordingly, the more skeptical writers then also identified the magicians – i. e. the magians – as charlatans or frauds, in Platos Symposium, the Athenian identified them as maleficent, allowing however a measure of efficacy as a function of the god Eros. Pliny paints them in a bad light. Thorndike comments, Greek science at its best was not untainted by magic, in the story Circes magic consists in the use of a wand against Odysseus and his men while Odysseuss magic consists of the use of a secret herb called moly to defend himself from her attack. In the story three requisites crucial to the idiom of magic in literature are found, The use of a mysterious tool endowed with special powers

16.
Aggadah
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Aggadah refers to non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations. In terms of etymology, the cognate Hebrew, הַגָּדָה‎, means telling, while the Aramaic root אגד has the implication of “expanding” / “drawing out”. The root also has the flow, and here relates to the transmission of ideas. The Aggadah is part of Judaisms Oral law —the traditions providing the authoritative interpretation of the Written Law. In this context, the widely held view in rabbinic literature is that the aggadah is in fact a medium for the transmission of teachings or for explanations of verses in the Tanakh. In Rabbinic thought, therefore, much of the Aggadah is understood as containing a hidden, allegorical dimension, in addition to its overt, literal sense. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the Ramchal, discusses this two-tiered and he explains that the Oral Law, in fact, comprises two components, the legal component, discussing the mitzvot and halakha, and the secret component, discussing the deeper teachings. The aggadah, along with the Kabbalah, falls under the latter, the rabbis of the Mishnaic era believed that it would be dangerous to record the deeper teachings in explicit, mishnah-like, medium. Rather, they would be conveyed in a mode and via paradoxes. As regards this, Maimonides, in his preface to the chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin. The first approach is to accept the Aggadah as literally true, without admission of any hidden, Maimonides is dismissive of this approach. The second approach is to assume that anything said by the Sages was intended literally, Maimonides does not entirely reject rationalist interpretation, but he opposes an exegetical approach which denies the Aggadah a hidden rationality. The third approach is to recognise that many Aggadot are intended to teach profound truths, thus any impossible assertion was, in fact, intended as a parable, further, where aggadot can be understood literally, they may be taken on this level. This is, in general, the view of the Rabbis and it is proper…to carefully analyse …when any of these seem far-fetched we must immerse ourselves in the various branches of knowledge until we understand the concepts. The aggadah is today recorded in the Midrash and the Talmud, throughout the Talmud, aggadic and halakhic material are interwoven—legal material comprises around 90%. The Talmudic aggada, generally, convey the deeper teachings—though in concealed mode, the aggadic material in the Babylonian Talmud is also presented separately in Ein Yaakov, a compilation of the Aggadah together with commentaries. Well-known works interpreting the Aggadot in the Talmud include, Chiddushei Aggados by Samuel Edels the Maharsha, Chiddushei Aggados by Judah Loew the Maharal

17.
Conjuration
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Evocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-altering substances with, the Latin word evocatio was the calling forth or summoning away of a citys tutelary deity. Evocatio was thus a kind of ritual dodge to mitigate looting of sacred objects or images from shrines that would otherwise be sacrilegious or impious, the calling forth of spirits was a relatively common practice in Neoplatonism, theurgy and other esoteric systems of antiquity. In contemporary western esotericism, the magic of the grimoires is frequently seen as the example of this idea. The grimoires provided a variety of methods of evocation, the spirits are, in many cases, commanded in the name of God - most commonly using cabalistic and Hellenic barbarous names added together to form long litanies. The magician used wands, staves, incense and fire, daggers and complex diagrams drawn on parchment or upon the ground. In Enochian magic, spirits are evoked into a ball or mirror, in which a human volunteer is expected to be able to see the spirit and hear its voice. Sometimes such a seer might be a medium, speaking as the spirit. In other cases the spirit might be housed in a symbolic image, the magician is thought to gain authority among the spirits only by purity, worship and personal devotion and study. In more recent usage, evocation refers to the out of lesser spirits. This sort of evocation is contrasted with invocation, in which powers are called into the self from a divine source. Important contributors to the concept of evocation include Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Francis Barrett, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, Franz Bardon, the work of all of these authors can be seen as attempts to systematize and modernize the grimoiric procedure of evocation. Conjuration in traditional and most contemporary usage refers to an act of invoking spirits or using incantations or charms to cast magical spells. In the context of legerdemain, it may refer to the performance of illusion or magic tricks for show. This article discusses mainly the original and primary usage, describing acts of a supernatural or paranormal nature, the word conjuration can be interpreted in several different ways, as an invocation or evocation, as an exorcism, and as an act of producing effects by magical means. The word is used synonymously with terms such as invocation or evocation or summoning. The term conjuring is also used as a term for casting spells in some magical traditions. In that context, amulets and talismans are often kept in a bag and conjuring oils may be used to anoint candles and other magical supplies

18.
Daemon (classical mythology)
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Dæmon is the Latin word for the Ancient Greek daimōn, which refers to the daemons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy. Daemon is the Latin version of the Greek daimōn, Daemons are benevolent or benign nature spirits, beings of the same nature as both mortals and deities, similar to ghosts, chthonic heroes, spirit guides, forces of nature or the deities themselves. How far this is an expression of popular superstition is not easy to judge. In Hesiods Theogony, Phaëton becomes an incorporeal daimon or a spirit, but, for example. In the Old Testament, evil spirits appear in the book of Judges, the use of daimōn in the New Testaments original Greek text, caused the Greek word to be applied to the Judeo-Christian concept of an evil spirit by the early second century AD. Homers use of the words theoí and daímones, suggests that while distinct, later writers developed the distinction between the two. Plato, in Cratylus speculates that the word daimōn is synonymous to daēmōn, however, in Platos Symposium, the priestess Diotima teaches Socrates that love is not a deity, but rather a great daemon. In Platos Apology of Socrates, Socrates claimed to have a daimonion that frequently warned him—in the form of a voice—against mistakes, the Platonic Socrates, however, never refers to the daimonion as a daimōn, it was always an impersonal something or sign. By this term he seems to indicate the nature of the human soul. Paul Shorey sees the daimonion not as an inspiration but as a kind of spiritual tact checking Socrates from any act opposed to his moral and intellectual interests. The famous, paradoxical saying of Heraclitus is already directed against such a view, the Hellenistic Greeks divided daemons into good and evil categories, agathodaímōn, from agathós, and kakodaímōn, from kakós. Eudaimonia, the state of having a eudaemon, came to mean well-being or happiness, the comparable Roman concept is the genius who accompanies and protects a person or presides over a place. Burkert suggests that, for Plato, theology rests on two Forms, the Good and the Simple, which Xenocrates unequivocally called the unity god in sharp contrast to the gods of epic. In the Archaic or early Classical period, the daimon had been democratized and internalized for each person, whom it served to guide, motivate, similarly, the first-century Roman imperial cult began by venerating the genius or numen of Augustus, a distinction that blurred in time. Maureen A. Tilley, Exorcism in North Africa, Localizing the holy explores the meanings of daimon among Christians in Roman Africa and exorcism practices that passed seamlessly into Christian ritual. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol V, Cyprian, On the Vanity of Idols e-text Daemons inhabiting the images of gods Kakodaemons on Theoi. com Abstract Personifications The Daemon Page

19.
Agathodaemon
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An agathodaemon or agathos daemon was a spirit of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion. They were personal companion spirits, comparable to the Roman genii, who ensured good luck, health, and wisdom. Though little noted in Greek mythology, he was prominent in Greek folk religion and this is the moment to drain a cup in honor of the Agathos Daimon. A temple dedicated to him was situated on the road from Megalopolis to Maenalus in Arcadia, Agathos Daimon was the spouse or companion of Tyche Agathe. Tyche we know at Lebadeia as the wife of the Agathos Daimon, the Good or Rich Spirit. His numinous presence could be represented in art as a serpent or more concretely as a man bearing a cornucopia and a bowl in one hand, and a poppy. The agathodaemon was later adapted into a general daemon of fortuna, particularly of the abundance of a familys good food. Cacodaemon Eudaemon Genius This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, theoi. com, Greek and Latin sources in translation

20.
Cacodemon
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A cacodemon is an evil spirit or a demon. The opposite of a cacodemon is an agathodaemon or eudaemon, a spirit or angel. The word cacodemon comes through Latin from the Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων kakodaimōn, meaning a spirit, whereas daimon would be a neutral spirit in Greek. In psychology, cacodemonia is a form of insanity in which the patient believes that they are possessed by an evil spirit, the first known occurrence of the word cacodemon dates to 1398. In Shakespeares Richard III Act 1 Scene 3, Queen Margaret calls Richard a cacodemon for his foul deeds, in the book The Magicians by Lev Grossman, the main characters each have a Cacodemon magically implanted into their backs. Kelley Armstrongs Otherworld novels feature cacodemons and eudemons, some of whom have produced semi-human-like progeny, deicides second album, Legion, contains a song called Satan Spawn, The Caco-Daemon. There is a painting by Paul Klee called Cacodaemonic There is a boulder in Squamish, Canada called Cacodemon, it is the location of the climb Dreamcatcher, in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Cacodaemon is a powerful Yugoloth, much like the Baatezu and the Tanarri. In the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Cacodemon is a seventh level magic-user spell and it was used to summon a type IV, V, or VI demon to the player characters location in the game world. The spell was eventually phased out in the edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game in favor of a more comprehensive creature-summoning spell. In fantasy video game Baldurs Gate II, Shadows of Amn, in the Fantasy world Glorantha Cacodemon is the god of ogres In the Doom series of computer games developed by id software, Cacodemons are an enemy, depicted as levitating one-eyed monsters. In Final Fantasy XI MMORPG, the Terrestrial Avatar Diabolos uses an attack called Cacodemonia. In Anarchy Online MMORPG, a pet that one of the professions can summon is the Cacodemon, in Talisman Online MMORPG, Cacodaemons are one of the types of creature inhabiting the Cloud Mountain area. In Wizardry V, Heart of the Maelstrom, Cacodaemons are large red demons encountered on floor 777, in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, cacodaemons appear as a low-level demon with features similar to the ones found in Doom. In Smite, there is a Cacodemon skin for the playable God Ymir, in Magic, the Gathering, Dread Cacodemon is a card from the Commander expansion. In Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Cacodaemons are large, yellow, obese demons whose primary attacks are attempting to mutate the player, or corrode them with an acid spit

21.
Eudaimonia
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Etymologically, it consists of the words eu and daimōn. Discussion of the links between virtue of character and happiness is one of the concerns of ancient ethics. As a result there are varieties of eudaimonism. Two of the most influential forms are those of Aristotle and the Stoics, Aristotle takes virtue and its exercise to be the most important constituent in eudaimonia but acknowledges also the importance of external goods such as health, wealth, and beauty. By contrast, the Stoics make virtue necessary and sufficient for eudaimonia, everyone wants to be eudaimon, and everyone agrees that being eudaimon is related to faring well and to an individual’s well being. The really difficult question is to specify just what sort of activities enable one to live well, Aristotle presents various popular conceptions of the best life for human beings. The candidates that he mentions are a life of pleasure, a life of political activity, one important move in Greek philosophy to answer the question of how to achieve eudaimonia is to bring in another important concept in ancient philosophy, arete. Aristotle says that the life is one of “virtuous activity in accordance with reason”. And even Epicurus who argues that the life is the life of pleasure maintains that the life of pleasure coincides with the life of virtue. So the ancient ethical theorists tend to agree that virtue is closely bound up with happiness, however, they disagree on the way in which this is so. We shall consider the main theories in a moment, but first a warning about the translation of areté. As already noted, the Greek word areté is usually translated into English as virtue, one problem with this is that we are inclined to understand virtue in a moral sense, which is not always what the ancients had in mind. For a Greek, areté pertains to all sorts of qualities we would not regard as relevant to ethics, for example, physical beauty. So it is important to bear in mind that the sense of ‘virtue’ operative in ancient ethics is not exclusively moral and includes more than such as wisdom, courage. The sense of virtue which areté connotes would include saying something like speed is a virtue in a horse, doing anything well requires virtue, and each characteristic activity has its own set of virtues. The alternative translation excellence might be helpful in conveying this general meaning of the term, the moral virtues are simply a subset of the general sense in which a human being is capable of functioning well or excellently. What we know of Socrates philosophy is almost entirely derived from Platos writings, scholars typically divide Platos works into three periods, the early, middle, and late periods. This division will be employed here in dividing up the positions of Socrates, as with all other ancient ethical thinkers Socrates thought that all human beings wanted eudaimonia more than anything else

22.
Dictionnaire Infernal
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The Dictionnaire Infernal is a book on demonology, describing demons organised in hierarchies. It was written by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy and first published in 1818, there were several editions of the book, perhaps the most famous is the 1863 edition, which included sixty-nine illustrations by Louis Le Breton depicting the appearances of several of the demons. Many but not all of these images were used in S. L. MacGregor Matherss edition of The Lesser Key of Solomon. The book was first published in 1818 and then divided into two volumes, with six reprints—and many changes—between 1818 and 1863 and this book attempts to provide an account of all the knowledge concerning superstitions and demonology. A review in 1822 read, The cover page for the 1826 edition reads, Influenced by Voltaire, but only God could know the punishments meted out to the guilty, or the place that holds them. All the catalogues made herebefore are only the fruit of a more or less disordered imagination, theologians should leave to the poets the depiction of Hell, and not themselves seek to frighten minds with hideous paintings and appalling books. The skepticism of Collin de Plancy increasingly subsided over time, by the end of 1830 he was an enthusiastic Roman Catholic, to the consternation of his former admirers. In later years, De Plancy rejected and modified his past works and this influence is most clearly seen in the sixth and final 1863 edition of the book, which is decorated with many engravings and seeks to affirm the existence of the demons. De Plancy collaborated with Jacques Paul Migne, a French priest, to complete a Dictionary of the sciences or theological Encyclopaedia. Many articles written in the Dictionnaire Infernal illustrate the authors vacillation between rationalism, faith, and willingness to believe without evidence. But the cards, merely human artifacts, not knowing either the future, nor the present, for a thousand different people they will have the same result, and consulted twenty times about the same subject, they will produce twenty contradictory productions. Deliriums Realm – Dictionnaire Infernal Boards of the edition of 1826 on the site of the library of Lisieux

23.
Ancient Greek language
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek

24.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole

25.
Genius (mythology)
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In Roman religion, the genius is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing. Much like an angel, the genius would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died. For women it was the Juno spirit that would accompany each of them, the Greeks called their genii daemons, and believed in them from the earliest times. The rational powers and abilities of human being were attributed to their soul. Each individual place had a genius and so did powerful objects, the concept extended to some specifics, the genius of the theatre, of vineyards, and of festivals, which made performances successful, grapes grow, and celebrations succeed, respectively. It was extremely important in the Roman mind to propitiate the appropriate genii for the major undertakings, although the term genius might apply to any divinity whatsoever, most of the higher-level and state genii had their own well-established names. Genius applied most often to places or people not generally known. Houses, doors, gates, streets, districts, tribes, the supreme hierarchy of the Roman gods, like that of the Greeks, was modelled after a human family. It featured a father, Jupiter, who was also the divine unity. These supreme unities were subdivided into genii for each family, hence. The male function was a Jupiter, for example, to protect infants one propitiated a number of deities concerned with birth and childrearing, Cuba, Cunina and Rumina. Certainly, if those genii did not perform their proper function well, hundreds of lararia, or family shrines, have been discovered at Pompeii, typically off the atrium, kitchen or garden, where the smoke of burnt offerings could vent through the opening in the roof. A lararium was distinct from the penus, another shrine where the penates, each lararium features a panel fresco containing the same theme, two peripheral figures attend on a central figure or two figures who may or may not be at an altar. In the foreground is one or two serpents crawling toward the genius through a meadow motif, campania and Calabria preserved an ancient practice of keeping a propitious house snake, here linked with the genius. Etymologically genius has the same derivation as nature from gēns from the Indo-European root *gen- and it is the indwelling nature of an object or class of objects or events that act with a perceived or hypothesized unity. Philosophically the Romans did not find the paradox of the one being many confusing, multiple events could therefore be attributed to the same and different divinities and a person could be the same as and different from his genius. They were not distinct, as the guardian angels. This point of view is not attributable to any one civilization, the Etruscans had such beliefs at the beginning of history, but then so did the Greeks, the native Italics and many other peoples in the Near and Middle East

26.
Numen
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Numen, pl. numina, is a Latin term for divinity, or a divine presence, divine will. The Latin authors defined it as follows, cicero writes of a divine mind, a god whose numen everything obeys, and a divine power which pervades the lives of men. It causes the motions and cries of birds during augury, in Virgils recounting of the blinding of the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, from the Odyssey, in his Aeneid, he has Odysseus and his men first ask for the assistance of the great numina. Pliny the younger in a letter to Paternus raves about the power, the dignity, and the majesty, in short, the numen of history. Lucretius uses the expression numen mentis, or bidding of the mind, where bidding is numen, not, however, the numen, unless the mind is to be considered divine. Since the early 20th century, numen has sometimes been treated in the history of religion as a phase, that is. Numen is also used by sociologists to refer to the idea of magical power residing in an object, when used in this sense, numen is nearly synonymous with mana. However, some authors use of mana for ideas about magic from Polynesia. It came to mean the product or expression of power — not, be it noted, thus, numen is not personified and should be distinguished from deus. The cult of Augustus was promoted by Tiberius, who dedicated the Ara Numinis Augusti, in this context, a distinction can be made between the terms numen and genius. The expression Numen inest appears in Ovids Fasti and has been translated as There is a spirit here and its interpretation, and in particular the exact sense of numen has been discussed extensively in the literature. The phrase numen eris caeloque redux mirabere regna appears on line 129 of the poem Metrum in Genesin, nil sine numine is the state motto of Colorado. Its origin could be the phrase. non haec sine numine divum eveniunt from Virgils Aeneid, Numen lumen is the motto of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Elon University. The term numen appears three times in James Joyces Finnegans Wake, animism Lares Penates Sacred Fishwick, Duncan. The Imperial Cult in the Latin West, the Idea of the Holy, An Inquiry Into the Non Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine 1926

27.
Plato
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Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Platos entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead once noted, the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. In addition to being a figure for Western science, philosophy. Friedrich Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Christianity, Platonism for the people, Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy, which originate with him. He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher” should be applied, few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range, perhaps only Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank. Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Platos early life, the philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies, the exact time and place of Platos birth are unknown, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina between 429 and 423 BCE. According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus. Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker, besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children, these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of Speusippus. The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the Republic as sons of Ariston, and presumably brothers of Plato, but in a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, went to Euclides in Megara, as Debra Nails argues, The text itself gives no reason to infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies the very opposite. Thus, Nails dates Platos birth to 424/423, another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping, an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy. Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the dating of his death is difficult. Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother, who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato and these and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Platos family tree

28.
Socrates
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Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is a figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon. Platos dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is hidden behind his best disciple, nothing written by Socrates remains extant. As a result, information about him and his philosophies depends upon secondary sources, furthermore, close comparison between the contents of these sources reveals contradictions, thus creating concerns about the possibility of knowing in-depth the real Socrates. This issue is known as the Socratic problem, or the Socratic question, to understand Socrates and his thought, one must turn primarily to the works of Plato, whose dialogues are thought the most informative source about Socrates life and philosophy, and also Xenophon. These writings are the Sokratikoi logoi, or Socratic dialogues, which consist of reports of conversations apparently involving Socrates, as for discovering the real-life Socrates, the difficulty is that ancient sources are mostly philosophical or dramatic texts, apart from Xenophon. There are no straightforward histories, contemporary with Socrates, that dealt with his own time, a corollary of this is that sources that do mention Socrates do not necessarily claim to be historically accurate, and are often partisan. For instance, those who prosecuted and convicted Socrates have left no testament, historians therefore face the challenge of reconciling the various evidence from the extant texts in order to attempt an accurate and consistent account of Socrates life and work. The result of such an effort is not necessarily realistic, even if consistent, amid all the disagreement resulting from differences within sources, two factors emerge from all sources pertaining to Socrates. It would seem, therefore, that he was ugly, also, Xenophon, being an historian, is a more reliable witness to the historical Socrates. It is a matter of debate over which Socrates it is whom Plato is describing at any given point—the historical figure. As British philosopher Martin Cohen has put it, Plato, the idealist, offers an idol, a Saint, a prophet of the Sun-God, a teacher condemned for his teachings as a heretic. It is also clear from other writings and historical artefacts, that Socrates was not simply a character, nor an invention, the testimony of Xenophon and Aristotle, alongside some of Aristophanes work, is useful in fleshing out a perception of Socrates beyond Platos work. The problem with discerning Socrates philosophical views stems from the perception of contradictions in statements made by the Socrates in the different dialogues of Plato and these contradictions produce doubt as to the actual philosophical doctrines of Socrates, within his milieu and as recorded by other individuals. Aristotle, in his Magna Moralia, refers to Socrates in words which make it patent that the virtue is knowledge was held by Socrates. Within the Metaphysics, he states Socrates was occupied with the search for moral virtues, however, in The Clouds, Aristophanes portrays Socrates as accepting payment for teaching and running a sophist school with Chaerephon. Also, in Platos Apology and Symposium, as well as in Xenophons accounts, more specifically, in the Apology, Socrates cites his poverty as proof that he is not a teacher. Two fragments are extant of the writings by Timon of Phlius pertaining to Socrates, although Timon is known to have written to ridicule, details about the life of Socrates can be derived from three contemporary sources, the dialogues of Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of Aristophanes

29.
Christian
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A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach, while there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian is also used as an adjective to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a sense all that is noble, and good. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the worlds largest religion in 2050, about half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant. Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the worlds Christians, other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories,280 million Christian live as a minority. In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, in other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French and Cristiano in Spanish. The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26,28, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4,16, which believers, Yet if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames, in the Annals he relates that by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians and identifies Christians as Neros scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes which is used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus in Acts 24, the Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselves Christian, denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of Christianity. Most Baptists and fundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian, in fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah is not accepted by Judaism, the term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוּצְרי, a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מָשִׁיחַיים, the term Nasara rose to prominence in July 2014, after the Fall of Mosul to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The nun or ن— the first letter of Nasara—was spray-painted on the property of Christians ejected from the city, where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners, another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī from ṣalīb which refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations

30.
Happiness
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Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Happy mental states may also reflect judgements by a person about their overall well-being, a variety of biological, psychological, economic, religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources. Various research groups, including psychology and happiness economics are employing the scientific method to research questions about what happiness is. The United Nations declared 20 March the International Day of Happiness to recognise the relevance of happiness, philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. Happiness in this sense was used to translate the Greek eudaimonia, there has been a transition over time from emphasis on the happiness of virtue to the virtue of happiness. A widely discussed political value expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 and this seems to suggest a subjective interpretation but one that nonetheless goes beyond emotions alone. In fact, this discussion is based on the naive assumption that the word happiness meant the same thing in 1776 as it does today. In fact, happiness meant prosperity, thriving, wellbeing in the 18th century, nowadays, happiness is a fuzzy concept and can mean many different things to many people. Part of the challenge of a science of happiness is to identify different concepts of happiness, related concepts are well-being, quality of life and flourishing. At least one author defines happiness as contentment, the 2012 World Happiness Report stated that in subjective well-being measures, the primary distinction is between cognitive life evaluations and emotional reports. Happiness is used in both life evaluation, as in “How happy are you with your life as a whole. ”, using these measures, the World Happiness Report identifies the countries with the highest levels of happiness. Since the 1960s, happiness research has been conducted in a variety of scientific disciplines, including gerontology, social psychology, clinical and medical research. Numerous short-term self-help interventions have been developed and demonstrated to improve well-being, Happiness in its broad sense is the label for a family of pleasant emotional states, such as joy, amusement, satisfaction, gratification, euphoria, and triumph. For example, happiness comes from encountering unexpected positive events, seeing a significant other, more narrowly, it refers to experiential and evaluative well-being. Experiential well-being, or objective happiness, is measured in the moment via questions such as How good or bad is your experience now. In contrast, evaluative well-being asks questions such as How good was your vacation, and measures ones subjective thoughts and feelings about happiness in the past. Experiential well-being is less prone to errors in memory. The two measures of happiness can be related by such as the peak-end rule

31.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor

32.
Cult image
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In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. Cultus, the outward religious formulas of cult, often centers upon the treatment of cult images, religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection. In many contexts cult image specifically means the most important image in a temple, kept in an inner space, as opposed to what may be many other images decorating the temple. The term idol is often synonymous with cult image, but may be used especially of an image believed not just to depict or represent a deity or spirit. Sometimes the image is believed to have its own powers, to grant wishes or otherwise affect the world, in cultures where idolatry is not viewed negatively, the word idol is not generally seen as pejorative, such as in Indian English. Cult of images is the practice of worshipping or venerating religious or cult images representing divine figures, common in a number of ancient religions, the practice continues most prominently today in Hinduism. Assertions by others outside the group concerned that such beliefs are held by the group are however common. Cult images were a presence in Ancient Egypt, and still are in modern-day Kemetism. A common example of an image in ancient Egypt was the Apis Bull. The term is confined to the relatively small images, typically in gold. These images usually showed the god in their sacred barque or boat, the Parthenon contained a cult image of Athena, the Greek goddess of civilization and the noble side of war. This cult image, known as Athena Parthenos, was created by Phidias and this cult image was used for religious sacrifices at this Athenian temple. Hinduism allows for many forms of worship and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images, in Hinduism, a murti typically refers to an image that expresses a Divine Spirit. Meaning literally embodiment, a murti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship. The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition, members of Abrahamic religions identify cult images as idols and their worship as idolatry, the worship of hollow forms. The avoidance of such a degrading paradox was expressed in the early Christian idea of miraculous icons that were not made by human hands, acheiropoietoi. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for the veneration of image of saints, the word idol entered Middle English in the 13th century from Old French idole adapted in Ecclesiastical Latin from the Greek eidolon. Greek eidos was employed by Plato and the Platonists to signify perfect immutable forms, the local tribes, of the Arabian peninsula, came to this centre of commerce to place their idols in the Kaaba, in the process being charged tithes

33.
Paganism
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Paganism is a term that derives from Latin word pagan, which means nonparticipant, one excluded from a more distinguished, professional group. The term was used in the 4th century, by early Christian community, the term competed with polytheism already in use in Judaism, by Philo in the 1st century. Pagans and paganism was a pejorative for the same polytheistic group, Paganism has broadly connoted religion of the peasantry, and for much of its history a derogatory term. Alternate terms in Christian texts for the group was hellene. In and after the Middle Ages, paganism was a pejorative that was applied to any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar religion, there has been much scholarly debate as to the origin of the term paganism, especially since no one before the 20th century self-identified as a pagan. In the 19th century, paganism was re-adopted as a self-descriptor by members of various artistic groups inspired by the ancient world. Forms of these religions, influenced by various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, exist today and are known as contemporary or modern paganism, while most pagan religions express a worldview that is pantheistic, polytheistic, or animistic, there are some monotheistic pagans. It is crucial to stress right from the start that until the 20th century people did not call themselves pagans to describe the religion they practised, the notion of paganism, as it is generally understood today, was created by the early Christian Church. It was a label that Christians applied to others, one of the antitheses that were central to the process of Christian self-definition, as such, throughout history it was generally used in a derogatory sense. The term pagan is from Late Latin paganus, revived during the Renaissance and it is related to pangere and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *pag-. The evolution occurred only in the Latin west, and in connection with the Latin church, elsewhere, Hellene or gentile remained the word for pagan, and paganos continued as a purely secular term, with overtones of the inferior and the commonplace. However, this idea has multiple problems, first, the words usage as a reference to non-Christians pre-dates that period in history. Second, paganism within the Roman Empire centered on cities, the concept of an urban Christianity as opposed to a rural paganism would not have occurred to Romans during Early Christianity. Third, unlike words such as rusticitas, paganus had not yet acquired the meanings used to explain why it would have been applied to pagans. Paganus more likely acquired its meaning in Christian nomenclature via Roman military jargon, Early Christians adopted military motifs and saw themselves as Milites Christi. As early as the 5th century, paganos was metaphorically used to persons outside the bounds of the Christian community. In response, Augustine of Hippo wrote De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos, in it, he contrasted the fallen city of Man to the city of God of which all Christians were ultimately citizens. Hence, the invaders were not of the city or rural

34.
Satan
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Satan is a figure appearing in the texts of the Abrahamic religions who brings evil and temptation, and is known as the deceiver who leads humanity astray. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Satan is primarily an accuser and adversary, a malevolent entity, also called the devil. Although Satan is generally viewed as having negative characteristics, some groups have different beliefs. In Theistic Satanism, Satan is considered a deity who is either worshipped or revered, in LaVeyan Satanism, Satan is a symbol of virtuous characteristics and liberty. The original Hebrew term satan is a noun from a verb meaning primarily to obstruct, oppose, as it is found in Numbers 22,22,1 Samuel 29,4, ha-Satan is traditionally translated as the accuser or the adversary. The definite article ha- is used to show that this is a title bestowed on a being, thus, this being would be referred to as the satan. Ha-Satan with the definite article occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible, Job ch. 1–2 and Zechariah 3, 1–2. 32 behold, I went out to thee,1 Samuel 29,4 The Philistines say, lest he be an adversary against us 2 Samuel 19,22 David says. 1 Kings 5,4 Solomon writes to Hiram, there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent, when the angels present themselves to God, Satan comes as well. God informs Satan about Jobs blameless, morally upright character, God therefore gives Satan permission to test Job. In the end, Job remains faithful and righteous, and there is the implication that Satan is shamed in his defeat, some scholars see contact with religious dualism in Babylon, and early Zoroastrianism in particular, as influencing Second Temple Judaism, and consequently early Christianity. Subsequent development of Satan as a deceiver has parallels with the spirit in Zoroastrianism, known as the Lie. In the Septuagint, the Hebrew ha-Satan in Job and Zechariah is translated by the Greek word diabolos, the Book of Enoch contains references to Satariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satanel. The similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel, the Second Book of Enoch, also called the Slavonic Book of Enoch, contains references to a Watcher called Satanael. It is a text of an uncertain date and unknown authorship. The text describes Satanael as being the prince of the Grigori who was cast out of heaven, a similar story is found in the book of 1 Enoch, however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori is called Semjâzâ. In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the being who brought death into the world, in the Book of Jubilees, Mastema induces God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac. He is identical to Satan in both name and nature, in Judaism, the term satan used since its earliest biblical contexts to refer to a human opponent

35.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD

36.
Septuagint
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The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of an Hebraic textual tradition that included certain texts which were later included in the canonical Hebrew Bible and other related texts which were not. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is called the Greek Old Testament. This translation is quoted a number of times in the New Testament, particularly in Pauline epistles, the title and its Roman numeral LXX refer to the legendary seventy Jewish scholars who solely translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek as early as the 3rd century BCE. Separated from the Hebrew canon of the Jewish Bible in Rabbinic Judaism, the traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation of the Torah. The Septuagint should not be confused with the seven or more other Greek versions of the Old Testament, of these, the most important are those by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. However, it was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures came to be called by the Latin term Septuaginta. This narrative is found in the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, the story is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud, King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one and he entered each ones room and said, Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher. God put it in the heart of one to translate identically as all the others did. Philo of Alexandria, who relied extensively on the Septuagint, says that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the tribes of Israel. After the Torah, other books were translated over the two to three centuries. It is not altogether clear which was translated when, or where, some may even have been translated twice, into different versions, the quality and style of the different translators also varied considerably from book to book, from the literal to paraphrasing to interpretative. The translation of the Septuagint itself began in the 3rd century BCE and was completed by 132 BCE, initially in Alexandria, the Septuagint is the basis for the Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament. Some sections of the Septuagint may show Semiticisms, or idioms and phrases based on Semitic languages like Hebrew, other books, such as Daniel and Proverbs, show Greek influence more strongly. The Septuagint may also elucidate pronunciation of pre-Masoretic Hebrew, many nouns are spelled out with Greek vowels in the LXX. However, it is unlikely that all ancient Hebrew sounds had precise Greek equivalents. As the work of translation progressed, the canon of the Greek Bible expanded, the Torah always maintained its pre-eminence as the basis of the canon, but the collection of prophetic writings, based on the Jewish Neviim, had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some books were included in the Septuagint

37.
Hebrew Bible
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They are composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew, with some passages in Biblical Aramaic. The term does not comment upon the naming, numbering or ordering of books, the term Hebrew Bible is an attempt to provide specificity with respect to contents but avoid allusion to any particular interpretative tradition or theological school of thought. Hebrew Bible refers to the Jewish biblical canon, in its Latin form, Biblia Hebraica, it traditionally serves as a title for printed editions of the Masoretic Text. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term Hebrew Bible as a substitute to terms with religious connotations. Hebrew Bible Old Testament without prescribing the use of either, however, he accepts that there is no reason why non-Christians should feel obliged to refer to these books as the Old Testament, apart from custom of use. Modern Christian formulations of this tension include Supersessionism, Covenant Theology, New Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, in terms of canon, Christian usage of Old Testament does not refer to a universally agreed upon set of books but, rather, varies depending on denomination. The Hebrew Bible includes small portions in Aramaic, written and printed in Aramaic square-script, the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium. The oldest texts seem to come from the 11th or 10th centuries BCE and they are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together. Since the 19th century, most biblical scholars have agreed that the Pentateuch consists of four sources which have been woven together and these four sources are J, D, E and P sources. They were combined to form the Pentateuch sometime in the 6th century BCE and this theory is now known as the documentary hypothesis, and has been the dominant theory for the past two hundred years. The Deuteronomist credited with the Pentateuchs book of Deuteronomy is also said to be the source of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, several editions, all titled Biblia Hebraica, have been produced by various German publishers since 1906. Between 1906 and 1955, Rudolf Kittel published nine editions of it,1966, the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft published the renamed Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia in six editions until 1997. Since 2004 the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft has published the Biblia Hebraica Quinta, other projects include, Hebrew University Bible Project Hebrew Bible, A Critical Edition Biblical canon Books of the Bible Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible Torah Brueggemann, Walter. An introduction to the Old Testament, the canon and Christian imagination, the People of Ancient Israel, an introduction to Old Testament Literature, History, and Thought, Harper and Row,1974. Sinai and Zion, An Entry into the Jewish Bible, archived from the original on 14 March 2012. The Ancient Near East, Volume I, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. An abridgement of Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament Noth, how the Bible Became a Book. The Old Testament, A Literary History, hebrew-English Tanakh, the Jewish Bible Complete, fully vocalized, contilated, Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, together with the classic English translation by the Jewish Publication Society

38.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion

39.
Late Antiquity
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Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century to, in the East, the early Islamic period, following the Muslim conquests in the mid–7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Medieval period typically placed in the 6th century, beginning with Constantine the Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded at Constantinople. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe, the term Spätantike, literally late antiquity, has been used by German-speaking historians since its popularization by Alois Riegl in the early 20th century. Concurrently, some migrating Germanic tribes such as the Ostrogoths and Visigoths saw themselves as perpetuating the Roman tradition, Constantine confirmed the legalization of the religion through the so-called Edict of Milan in 313, jointly issued with his rival in the East, Licinius. Monasticism was not the only new Christian movement to appear in Late Antiquity, notable in this regard is the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine. Within the recently legitimized Christian community of the 4th century, a division could be distinctly seen between the laity and an increasingly celibate male leadership. Celibate and detached, the clergy became an elite equal in prestige to urban notables. The Late Antique period also saw a transformation of the political and social basis of life in. The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities, archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by collapse of cities in the Mediterranean basin. Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines, in Roman Britain, the typical 4th- and 5th-century layer of black earth within cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces. A similar though less marked decline in population occurred later in Constantinople. In Europe there was also a decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all Europe. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce. The degree and extent of discontinuity in the cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians. In the western Mediterranean, the new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries were the four or five Visigothic victory cities

40.
Hellenistic period
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It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele, the Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to new realms. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East and this mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era, Hellenistic is distinguished from Hellenic in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. The word originated from the German term hellenistisch, from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής, from Ἑλλάς, Hellenistic is a modern word and a 19th-century concept, the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although words related in form or meaning, e. g, the major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The Greek population and the population did not always mix, the Greeks moved and brought their own culture. While a few fragments exist, there is no surviving historical work which dates to the hundred years following Alexanders death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, the earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis, a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC, another important source, Plutarchs Parallel Lives though more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms, other sources include Justins epitome of Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrians Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, in the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War, Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony, in which Sparta was pre-eminent but not all-powerful

41.
Aleister Crowley
–
Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymouth Brethren family in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he focused his attentions on mountaineering and poetry, resulting in several publications. Some biographers allege that here he was recruited into a British intelligence agency, in 1898 he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. Moving to Boleskine House by Loch Ness in Scotland, he went mountaineering in Mexico with Oscar Eckenstein, before studying Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. Announcing the start of the Æon of Horus, The Book declared that its followers should Do what thou wilt, in 1907, he and George Cecil Jones co-founded a Thelemite order, the A∴A∴, through which they propagated the religion. Thelemite groups were established in Britain, Australia, and North America, in 1920 he established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily where he lived with various followers. His libertine lifestyle led to denunciations in the British press, and he divided the following two decades between France, Germany, and England, and continued to promote Thelema until his death. Crowley gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, being a recreational drug experimenter, bisexual and he was denounced in the popular press as the wickedest man in the world and a Satanist. Crowley has remained an influential figure over Western esotericism and the counter-culture. In 2002, a BBC poll ranked him as the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time, Crowley was born as Edward Alexander Crowley at 30 Clarendon Square in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on 12 October 1875. His father, Edward Crowley, was trained as an engineer and his mother, Emily Bertha Bishop, came from a Devonshire-Somerset family and had a strained relationship with her son, she described him as the Beast, a name that he revelled in. The couple had married at Londons Kensington Registry Office in November 1874. Crowleys father was particularly devout, spending his time as a preacher for the sect and reading a chapter from the Bible to his wife. Following the death of their daughter in 1880, in 1881 the Crowleys moved to Redhill. At the age of 8, Crowley was sent to H. T, habershons evangelical Christian boarding school in Hastings, and then to Ebor preparatory school in Cambridge, run by the Reverend Henry dArcy Champney, whom Crowley considered a sadist. In March 1887, when Crowley was 11, his father died of tongue cancer, Crowley described this as a turning point in his life, and he always maintained an admiration of his father, describing him as his hero and his friend. Inheriting a third of his fathers wealth, he began misbehaving at school and was punished by Champney

42.
Choronzon
–
Choronzon /ˌkoʊˌroʊnˈzoʊn/ is a demon or devil that originated in writing with the 16th-century occultists Edward Kelley and John Dee within the latters occult system of Enochian magic. Thelemites believe that if he is met with proper preparation, then his function is to destroy the ego, including Crowleys spelling of the name, Choronzon, there appear to be three alternatives. Meric Casaubon states that the name is Coronzon in his ‘True, however, this is at variance with the spelling that appears in Dr. John Dees own journals. Laycocks Enochian Dictionary gives the spelling as Coronzom, citing an original manuscript as the source for the variant. A. D. Mercers Liber Coronzom discusses the question of spelling in some detail and includes images taken from Dees original diaries and from Casaubons True and Faithful Relation. Showing the differences Otherwise known as the demon of dispersion, Choronzon is described by Crowley as a personification of the raving. In this system, Choronzon is given form in evocation only so it may be mastered, Crowley states that he and Victor Benjamin Neuburg evoked Choronzon in the Sahara Desert in December 1909. Nearly all writers except Lawrence Sutin take him to mean the latter, in the account, Choronzon is described as changing shape, which is read variably as an account of an actual metamorphosis, a subjective impression of Neuburgs, or fabrication on Crowleys part. The account describes the demon throwing sand over the triangle to breach it, following which it attacked Neuburg in the form of a naked savage, Crowleys account has been criticized as unreliable, as the relevant original pages are torn from the notebook in which the account was written. This, along with other inconsistencies in the manuscript, has led to speculation that Crowley embroidered the event to support his own belief system.472. The conversation begins when two British students ask Neuburg about a version of the story in which Crowley turned him into a zebra, Neuburgs response in this book contradicts both the words attributed to him in Liber 418 and the statement of Crowley biographer Lawrence Sutin. Choronzon is deemed to be held in check by the power of the goddess Babalon, inhabitant of binah, both Choronzon and the abyss are discussed in Crowleys Confessions, The name of the Dweller in the Abyss is Choronzon, but he is not really an individual. These forms swirl senselessly into haphazard heaps like dust devils, and each such chance aggregation asserts itself to be an individual and shrieks, peter Carrolls Mass of Choronzon is a ritual with the purpose of casting the energy of ones ego into the universe to effectuate an unknown desire. This, in part, has served as an inspiration for modernized ritual effectuation based on the 333 current, when the internet made each project aware of the other, they fused these into one project. As of 2012, they operate the domains for the name Choronzon under. org. net, and. info, and have released several albums on CD as well as publishing a printed book, Panic Pandemic. Claiming that what they do is not merely music, but also actual magick acts fused into it, an invocation of Choronzon forms the basis for an episode of Hammer House of Horror entitled Guardian of the Abyss. The episode was also the inspiration for the album Choronzon by British blackened death metal band Akercocke, thrash/metal band Megadeth mentions Choronzon in their song Looking Down the Cross from their 1985 album, Killing Is My Business. A minor demon named Choronzon appears several times in Neil Gaimans The Sandman, Choronzon is one of the collectible demons in the Shin Megami Tensei series of games

43.
Demonology
–
Demonology is the study of demons or beliefs about demons, especially the methods used to summon and control them. The original sense of demon, from the time of Homer onward, was a benevolent being, the word demonology is from Greek δαίμων, daimōn, divinity, divine power, god, and -λογία, -logia. According to some societies, all the affairs of life are supposed to be under the control of spirits, each ruling a certain element or even object, and themselves in subjection to a greater spirit. For example, the Inuit are said to believe in spirits of the sea, earth and sky, the winds, every cove of the seashore, every point, every island and prominent rock has its guardian spirit. All are potentially of the malignant type, to be propitiated by an appeal to knowledge of the supernatural, traditional Korean belief posits countless demons inhabit the natural world, they fill household objects and are present in all locations. By the thousands they accompany travelers, seeking them out from their places in the elements, in ancient Babylon, demonology had an influence on even the most mundane elements of life, from petty annoyances to the emotions of love and hatred. The numerous demonic spirits were given charge over various parts of the body, one for the head, one for the neck. Many religions and cultures believe, or once believed, that what is now known as soothsaying, was, or is, the ascription of malevolence to the world of spirits is by no means universal. In Central Africa, the Mpongwe believe in spirits, just as do the Inuit. Demons are generally classified as spirits which are believed to enter into relations with the human race. As such the term includes, angels in the Judeo-Christian tradition that fell from grace, human souls regarded as genii or familiars, such as receive a cult, excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world. The incubi and Succubi of the Middle Ages are sometimes regarded as spiritual beings, belief in demons goes back many millennia. The Zoroastrian faith teaches that there are 3,333 Demons, some with specific dark responsibilities such as war, starvation, sickness, in Babylonian mythology, the seven evil deities were known as shedu, or storm-demons. It was from Chaldea that the name came to the Israelites. They also spoke of the destroyer as a Lord who will strike down the Egyptians, in II Samuel xxiv,16 and II Chronicles xxi.15 the pestilence-dealing angel, that is spirit, called the destroying angel. The followers of Mara were also called mara, the devils, the mara became fully assimilated into the Chinese worldview, and were called mo. D. Demonic forces had attained power in the world. Medieval Chinese Buddhist demonology was heavily influenced by Indian Buddhism, in his autobiography, The Blazing Splendor, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist master of the 20th century describes encounters with such beings

Assyro-Babylonian
–
Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influ

Pazuzu
–
In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind, brother of Humbaba and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the wind, the bearer of storms. Pazuzu is often depicted as a combination of animal and human parts. He has the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, talons of an eagle and he has his right hand u

Louvre
–
The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the se

4.
The Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of Louis XVIII.

Koine Greek
–
It was based mainly on Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect levelling with other varieties. Koine Greek displayed a wide spectrum of different styles, ranging from more conservative literary forms to the vernaculars of the time. As the dominant language of the Byzantine Empire, it developed fur

1.
Papyrus 46 is one of the oldest extant New Testament manuscripts in Greek, written on papyrus, with its 'most probable date' between 175-225.

Religion
–
Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason,

1.
Urarina shaman, Peru, 1988

3.
The Yazılıkaya sanctuary in Turkey, with the twelve gods of the underworld

4.
Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are one, a painting in the litang style portraying three men laughing by a river stream, 12th century, Song dynasty

Occultism
–
The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, ex

1.
Reconstruction of the "Holy Table" as used by John Dee.

Literature
–
Literature, in its broadest sense, is any single body of written works. Its Latin root literatura/litteratura was used to refer to all written accounts, developments in print technology have allowed an evergrowing distribution and proliferation of written works, culminating in electronic literature. There have been attempts to define literature. Si

1.
The Classic of Rites (Chinese: 禮 記; pinyin: Lǐjì), an ancient Chinese text. Certain definitions of literature have taken it to include all written work.

2.
A calligram by Guillaume Apollinaire. These are a type of poem in which the written words are arranged in such a way to produce a visual image.

3.
Egyptian hieroglyphs with cartouches for the name " Ramesses II ", from the Luxor Temple, New Kingdom

4.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and author of the Faust books

Fiction
–
Fiction is the classification for any story or similar work derived from imagination—in other words, not based strictly on history or fact. Fiction does not refer to a mode or genre, unless used in its narrowest sense to mean a literary narrative. Instead, the context of fiction is generally open to interpretation, characters and events within a fi

1.
An illustration from Lewis Carroll 's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the fictional protagonist, Alice, playing a fantastical game of croquet.

Mythology
–
Mythology refers variously to the collected myths of a group of people or to the study of such myths. Myths are the people tell to explain nature, history. Myth is a feature of every culture, mythologizing continues, as shown in contemporary mythopoeia such as urban legends and the expansive fictional mythoi created by fantasy novels and comics. A

1.
Prometheus (1868) by Gustave Moreau. In the mythos of Hesiodus and possibly Aeschylus (the Greek trilogy Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound and Prometheus Pyrphoros), Prometheus is bound and tortured for giving fire to humanity at its creation.

2.
1929 Belgian banknote, depicting Ceres, Neptune and caduceus.

3.
Fu Xi and Nüwa represented as half-snake, half-human creatures

Folklore
–
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes and they include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also

1.
Horse and Sulky weathervane, Smithsonian American Art Museum

2.
Hansel and Gretel, Arthur Rackham, 1909

3.
The story of Jahangir and Anarkali is popular folklore in the former territories of the Mughal Empire.

Ancient Near Eastern religions
–
The religions of the ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some early examples of primitive monolatry, Ashurism and Monism. Some scholars believe that the similarities between these religions indicate that the religions are related, a known as patternism. Many religions of the ancient near East and their offshoots can be traced to Proto-

Abrahamic traditions
–
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% of the population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions. Christianity claims 33% of the population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0. 2%. It has been suggested that the ph

1.
An interpretation of the borders (in red) of the Promised Land, based on God's promise to Abraham.

3.
The tomb of Abraham, a cenotaph above the Cave of the Patriarchs traditionally considered to be the burial place of Abraham.

4.
A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. This Bible was transcribed in Belgium in 1407 for reading aloud in a monastery.

Christian demonology
–
Christian demonology is the study of demons from a Christian point of view. In some Christian traditions, the deities of other religions are interpreted or created as demons, the evolution of the Christian Devil and pentagram are examples of early rituals and images that showcase evil qualities, as seen by the Christian churches. Since Early Christ

1.
De la démonomanie des sorciers, Jean Bodin

2.
Malleus Maleficarum, Lyon, 1669

Exorcism
–
Exorcism is the religious or spiritual practice of purportedly evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed. The practice is ancient and part of the system of many cultures. There was “a 50% increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s”, in Christ

1.
Painting of Saint Francis Borgia performing an exorcism, by Goya

2.
The image of Hanuman at the Hanuman temple in Sarangpur is said to be so powerful that a mere look at it by people affected by evil spirits, drives the evil spirits out of the people affected

Greco-Roman magic
–
The study of magic in the Greco-Roman world is a branch of the disciplines of classics, ancient history and religious studies. In the ancient post-hellenistic world of the Greeks and Romans, historians and archaeologists view the public, examples of this phenomenon are found in the various state and cult Temples, Jewish Synagogues and churches. The

1.
"The Sorceress" by John William Waterhouse

2.
Pythagoras of Samos.

Aggadah
–
Aggadah refers to non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations. In terms of etymology, the cognate Hebrew, הַגָּדָה‎, means telling, while the Arama

1.
Talmud Readers by Adolf Behrman

Conjuration
–
Evocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-altering substances with, the Latin word evocatio was the calling forth or summoning away of a citys tutelary deity.

1.
John Dee and Edward Kelley evoking a spirit

2.
Native American "conjuror" in a 1590 engraving

Daemon (classical mythology)
–
Dæmon is the Latin word for the Ancient Greek daimōn, which refers to the daemons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy. Daemon is the Latin version of the Greek daimōn, Daemons are benevolent or benign nature spirits, beings of the same nature as both mortals and deities, similar to ghosts, chthon

1.
A painting (Herbert James Draper, 1909) of Lamia, the queen of Libya, who, according to Greek mythology, became a daemon

Agathodaemon
–
An agathodaemon or agathos daemon was a spirit of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion. They were personal companion spirits, comparable to the Roman genii, who ensured good luck, health, and wisdom. Though little noted in Greek mythology, he was prominent in Greek folk religion and this is the moment to drain a cup in honor of t

Cacodemon
–
A cacodemon is an evil spirit or a demon. The opposite of a cacodemon is an agathodaemon or eudaemon, a spirit or angel. The word cacodemon comes through Latin from the Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων kakodaimōn, meaning a spirit, whereas daimon would be a neutral spirit in Greek. In psychology, cacodemonia is a form of insanity in which the patient belie

1.
Tychodaimon, the opposite of the Kakodaimon

Eudaimonia
–
Etymologically, it consists of the words eu and daimōn. Discussion of the links between virtue of character and happiness is one of the concerns of ancient ethics. As a result there are varieties of eudaimonism. Two of the most influential forms are those of Aristotle and the Stoics, Aristotle takes virtue and its exercise to be the most important

1.
French painter David portrayed the philosopher in The Death of Socrates (1787).

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The School of Athens by Raffaello Sanzio, 1509, showing Plato (left) and Aristotle (right)

3.
Zeno, thought happiness was a "good flow of life."

Dictionnaire Infernal
–
The Dictionnaire Infernal is a book on demonology, describing demons organised in hierarchies. It was written by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy and first published in 1818, there were several editions of the book, perhaps the most famous is the 1863 edition, which included sixty-nine illustrations by Louis Le Breton depicting the appearance

1.
Dictionnaire Infernal

2.
Adramelech

3.
Asmodee

4.
Astaroth

Ancient Greek language
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a hi

1.
Inscription about the construction of the statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon, 440/439 BC

2.
Ostracon bearing the name of Cimon, Stoa of Attalos

3.
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955 Leonidas Monument at Thermopylae

Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages

1.
Latin inscription, in the Colosseum

2.
Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the Roman republic.

Genius (mythology)
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In Roman religion, the genius is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing. Much like an angel, the genius would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died. For women it was the Juno spirit that would accompany each of them, the Greeks called their genii daem

1.
Winged genius facing a woman with a tambourine and mirror, from southern Italy, about 320 BC.

2.
Bronze genius depicted as pater familias (1st century CE)

3.
Head of a genius worshipped by Roman soldiers (found at Vindobona, 2nd century CE)

4.
Genius of Domitian

Numen
–
Numen, pl. numina, is a Latin term for divinity, or a divine presence, divine will. The Latin authors defined it as follows, cicero writes of a divine mind, a god whose numen everything obeys, and a divine power which pervades the lives of men. It causes the motions and cries of birds during augury, in Virgils recounting of the blinding of the one-

Plato
–
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Platos entire work is believed to have survived intact for over

1.
Plato: copy of portrait bust by Silanion

2.
Plato from The School of Athens by Raphael, 1509

3.
Plato and Socrates in a medieval depiction

4.
Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his Timaeus and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in The Forms

Socrates
–
Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. He is a figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon. Platos dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear t

Christian
–
A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach, while there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are unit

1.
Set of pictures for a number of famous Christians from various fields.

2.
The Church of St Peter near Antakya, Turkey, in Antioch the disciples were called Christians.

3.
Nazareth the city is described as the childhood home of Jesus, in many languages employ the word Nazarene as a general designation for those of the Christian faith.

Happiness
–
Happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Happy mental states may also reflect judgements by a person about their overall well-being, a variety of biological, psychological, economic, religious and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness

1.
A smiling 95-year-old man from Pichilemu, Chile.

2.
The smiley face is a well-known symbol of happiness

3.
Joy, Tacuinum Sanitatis Casanatensis (14th century)

4.
Tibetan Buddhist monk

Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,

1.
The Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)

2.
Aureus of Augustus, the first Roman Emperor.

3.
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England

Cult image
–
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. Cultus, the outward religious formulas of cult, often centers upon the treatment of cult images, religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, s

1.
African Songye Power Figure

2.
Vermilion on a stone is a common form of a Hindu murti

3.
A fanciful reconstruction of Phidias ' Statue of Zeus at Olympia, 1572

4.
A clay Ganesha murti, worshipped during Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

Paganism
–
Paganism is a term that derives from Latin word pagan, which means nonparticipant, one excluded from a more distinguished, professional group. The term was used in the 4th century, by early Christian community, the term competed with polytheism already in use in Judaism, by Philo in the 1st century. Pagans and paganism was a pejorative for the same

1.
The Venus of Arles, depicting the goddess Venus holding the apple of Hesperides.

2.
Reconstruction of the Parthenon, on the Acropolis of Athens, Greece.

3.
Some megaliths are believed to have religious significance.

4.
Children standing with The Lady of Cornwall in a neopagan ceremony in England.

Satan
–
Satan is a figure appearing in the texts of the Abrahamic religions who brings evil and temptation, and is known as the deceiver who leads humanity astray. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Satan is primarily an accuser and adversary, a malevolent entity, also called the devil. Although Satan is generally viewed as having negative characte

1.
William Blake 's illustration of Satan as presented in John Milton 's Paradise Lost

3.
The examination of Job, Satan pours on the plagues of Job, by William Blake

4.
The Devil depicted in The Temptation of Christ, by Ary Scheffer, 1854

Byzantine Empire
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transit

1.
Tremissis with the image of Justinian the Great (r. 527–565) (see Byzantine insignia)

3.
The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael 's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Eusebius of Caesarea records that (as was common among converts of early Christianity) Constantine delayed receiving baptism until shortly before his death

4.
Restored section of the Theodosian Walls.

Septuagint
–
The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of an Hebraic textual tradition that included certain texts which were later included in the canonical Hebrew Bible and other related texts which were not. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is called the Greek Old Testament. This translation is quoted a number of times in the New T

1.
Fragment of a Septuagint: A column of uncial text from 1 Esdras in the Codex Vaticanus c. 325–350 CE, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton's Greek edition and English translation.

Hebrew Bible
–
They are composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew, with some passages in Biblical Aramaic. The term does not comment upon the naming, numbering or ordering of books, the term Hebrew Bible is an attempt to provide specificity with respect to contents but avoid allusion to any particular interpretative tradition or theological school of thought. Hebrew Bib

1.
Page from an 11th-century Aramaic Targum manuscript of the Hebrew Bible.

New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testame

Late Antiquity
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Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The development of the periodization has generally been accredited to historian Peter Brown, precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of

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The Barberini ivory, a late Leonid / Justinian Byzantine ivory leaf from an imperial diptych, from an imperial workshop in Constantinople in the first half of the sixth century (Louvre Museum)

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Modern statue of Constantine I at York, where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306.

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The Favourites of the Emperor Honorius, 1883: John William Waterhouse expresses the sense of moral decadence that coloured the 19th-century historical view of the 5th century.

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View west along the Harbour Street towards the Library of Celsus in Ephesus. The pillars on the left side of the street were part of the colonnaded walkway apparent in cities of Late Antique Asia Minor.

Hellenistic period
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It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sp

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The Nike of Samothrace is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Hellenistic art.

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Alexander fighting the Persian king Darius III. From the Alexander Mosaic, Naples National Archaeological Museum.

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Alexander's empire at the time of its maximum expansion.

Aleister Crowley
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Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century, a prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life. Born to a wealthy Plymou

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Aleister Crowley, c. 1912

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Crowley in Golden Dawn garb

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Crowley during the K2 Expedition

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Kangchenjunga, as seen from Darjeeling

Choronzon
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Choronzon /ˌkoʊˌroʊnˈzoʊn/ is a demon or devil that originated in writing with the 16th-century occultists Edward Kelley and John Dee within the latters occult system of Enochian magic. Thelemites believe that if he is met with proper preparation, then his function is to destroy the ego, including Crowleys spelling of the name, Choronzon, there app

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Category:Thelema

Demonology
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Demonology is the study of demons or beliefs about demons, especially the methods used to summon and control them. The original sense of demon, from the time of Homer onward, was a benevolent being, the word demonology is from Greek δαίμων, daimōn, divinity, divine power, god, and -λογία, -logia. According to some societies, all the affairs of life

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" Nightmare ", 1800, by Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard

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Zawba‘a, the demon king of Friday, depicted with other demons in the Book of Wonders, a 14th/ 15th century Arabic manuscript

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Burney Relief, Babylon (1800-1750 BCE). Some scholars (e.g. Emil Kraeling) identified the figure in the relief with Lilith, based on a misreading of an outdated translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Modern research has identified the figure as one of the main goddesses of the Mesopotamian pantheons, most probably Ishtar or Ereshkigal.

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Hasidus called the "Torah of the Baal Shem Tov " and his "Wellsprings", after his account in a letter to Gershon of Kitov about the elevation of his soul to the Heavenly Realms on Rosh Hashanah 1746. Repeating the Talmudic question, he asked the Messiah, "When is the Master coming?" The reply was, "When your Wellsprings spread forth to the furthest extremes"

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Tradition records the Baal Shem Tov as a Hidden Tzadik, living in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine before his public teaching

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Rebuilt synagogue of the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhybizh, Ukraine

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The disciples of Dov Ber of Mezeritch spread Hasidism throughout Eastern Europe

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This apotropaic wand shows a procession of protective deities. Such a wand would have been used in rituals associated with birth and were perhaps used to draw a magical circle around the mother and child. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

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The Gorgon, flanked by lionesses and showing her belt clasp of serpents, as depicted at the west pediment of the 580 B.C. temple of Artemis in Corfu on display at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu.

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The Trumpeting Place inscription, a stone (2.43x1 m) with Hebrew inscription "To the Trumpeting Place" excavated by Benjamin Mazar at the southern foot of the Temple Mount is believed to be a part of the Second Temple

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This engraving, made from carved sardonyx and gold, features a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark. It is based on a woodcut by the French illustrator Bernard Salomon. The Walters Art Museum.